1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless telephony devices, and more particularly, to displaying and selecting among calling options in such a wireless telephony device.
2. Related Art
Nowadays, a telephone user, including a cellular telephone user, often has the flexibility of placing a telephone call using a number of different calling modes, including, for example, using a calling card, a paging service, or a text messaging facility.
A calling card telephone call is billable to a calling card account. Known types of calling cards include a prepaid calling card associated with an account having a prepaid telephone spending limit, and a subscription based calling card associated with an account that is billed monthly. To make an exemplary calling card call, an individual dials an eleven digit calling card access number associated with the calling card account, such as a 1-800-XXX-XXXX number, enters a four digit personal identification number, and then dials an eleven digit destination number to complete the call.
The user is therefore burdened with dialing or entering twenty-six digits at his or her telephone, in addition to any required control digits. Also, the user is burdened with remembering both the calling card access number and his or her personal identification number (PIN), both of which typically remain constant throughout many calls using the calling card account. Such burdens are a particular source of inconvenience to an xe2x80x9con-the-goxe2x80x9d cellular telephone user.
To place an exemplary call to a pager destination using a paging service, a user first dials a paging service access number, and then, in response to a returned dial tone, a call-back or return number, as is known. Typically, therefore, the user is burdened with dialing up to as many as twenty-two digits to place the call. In the case of a cellular telephone user, the call-back number is usually a telephone number of the cellular telephone, referred to as a mobile identification number (MIN). Therefore, the cellular user must repetitiously enter the same MIN for each call to a pager destination.
One known technique for distinguishing between different calling modes at a call originating telephone requires the user to precede a destination number with a special code, such as a xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d digit for a calling card call or a xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d digit for a paging service call. This technique disadvantageously burdens the user with additional key strokes and with having to remember which codes correspond to which calling modes. Additionally, the user may not even be aware of all of the available calling modes supported by the telephone he or she is using.
Hence, there is a need to present a telephone user with viewable menu or list of available calling options, such as a calling card option and a paging option, from which the user can conveniently view all of the available calling options and select a desired calling option, without requiring the entry of an identifying code to identify and select the desired calling option.
There is a further need to minimize the number of digits a telephone user, especially a cellular telephone user, must remember and/or enter when placing a call using a calling card or a paging service, or any other calling mode.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for selecting among calling options in a wireless communications device. The invention includes determining whether a calling option mode is to be selected, and then displaying a plurality of calling options if the calling option mode has been selected. The user selects a calling option from the plurality of displayed calling options, and a call is originated as a function of the selected calling option. The calling options include originating a call billable to a calling card account, originating a call using a paging service, and originating a call using a text messaging facility. A displayed set-up option corresponding to a calling option set-up facility is also provided.
Features and Advantages
The present invention facilitates the ease of use of a telephone, especially a cellular telephone, by displaying to the user a menu of calling options, including calling card, paging, and text messaging calling options, from which menu the user can conveniently view the calling options and then select one of the calling options without having to remember and/or enter a specific calling option identifying code.
The present invention has the advantageous feature of automatically originating a calling card call using a calling card access number and an associated PIN both automatically retrieved from a telephone memory, in response to the user selecting a calling card option from the menu of calling options.
The present invention has the further feature of automatically originating a call to a paging service using a paging service access number entered or selected by the user, in response to a paging service option being selected from the user menu of calling options. This feature advantageously includes an automatic retrieval and transmission of a paging call-back number, such as a MIN for a mobile telephone, from the calling telephone memory to the paging service in response to receipt of a dial tone from the pager service when the paging call is in progress.
The present invention has the feature of originating a text messaging call in response to the user selecting the text messaging option from the menu of calling options.
All of the above mentioned features advantageously minimize the number of digits a telephone user must remember and/or enter when placing a call using the calling card, paging service, or text messaging calling options.